Cannabis

As a result of the natural origin of medicinal cannabis products, the concentration of cannabinoids in the plants themselves may vary significantly depending on growth conditions such as: temperature, humidity, nutrients, region, strain, sunlight etc. These plant extracts or oils may inherently also differ in cannabinoid concentration as a result of these conditions. It is thus imperative that the concentration of each batch of medicinal cannabis produced be tested for potency (THC, THCA, CBD, CBDA concentration) to ensure accurate consistent dosing and batch to batch repeatability.  NAFS provides cannabis potency analysis to accurately establish the concentration of the major cannabinoids in a sample

A range of organic solvents are used for manufacturing pharmaceuticals and herbal medicines. These solvents can be detected as residues of such processing in the final products. Solvent residues should be controlled through Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and proper quality control.  In the last few years, there has been an increase in the use of cannabis-based extracts. The preparation procedure, however, has not been standardized and high quantities of solvent residues are still present in a large number of final products.  NAFS offers residual solvent test panels to ensure the safety of your product. The Residual Solvent Class 3 Panel are the solvents that are mostly employed by medicinal cannabis producers.

Contamination of herbal materials with toxic substances such as arsenic can result from numerous origins. These include environmental pollution i.e. contaminated emissions from factories and leaded petrol, contaminated water including runoff water which finds its way into rivers, bore holes, lakes and the sea, pesticides, soil composition and fertilizers. This contamination of the herbal material leads to contamination of the products during various stages of the manufacturing or cultivation process.  It is thus imperative that herbal medicine and pharmaceutical manufacturers test for heavy
metal content in their products as part of their quality control regime.  NAFS provides a test panel which includes all class 1, class2A&B elements listed in ICH Q3D, USP233 and Ph. Eur. 2.4.20. 

Terpenes are aromatic oils that give cannabis and other plant species their distinctive aromas as well as flavours like citrus, berry, mint, and pine.  Over 100 different terpenes have been identified in the cannabis plant, and every strain tends toward a unique terpene type and composition.  These terpenes may include

• Limonene- found in Bergamot, Carrot, Fennel, Lemon, Orange and other citrus oils

• Pinene- found in Coriander, Cypress, Eucalyptus and Pine.

• Camphene-found in Juniper, Cypress, Spruce, and Pine

• Beta-Caryophyllene- found in Cloves, Pepper and Cinnamon.

At NAFS we provide a test panel which accurately quantitates more than 20 terpenes most commonly found in cannabis and cannabis-based products. 

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Physical properties analysis of cannabis-based products may also be considered.  NAFS offers a variety of physical property analysis which may include:

• Loss on drying is a widely used test method to determine the moisture content of a sample, although we at NAFS refer to the loss of any volatile matter from the sample.  This may include both moisture as water as well as terpenes.  Loss on drying analysis is performed to either USP 731 or Ph. Eur. 2.2.32 specifications. 

• Herbal Foreign Matter is defined as parts of the source plant that are not defined as the drug, and foreign elements of herbal, mineral or insect origin that are not derived from the plant species given in the definition. These may include soil, pests, packaging etc.  Following good agriculture and collection practices, should help ensure foreign matter content is kept to a minimum.  Foreign matter is tested according to USP 561 or Ph. Eur. 2.8.2.